Pages

Saturday, July 18, 2015

BuddhiBox July 2015 Review and Coupon Code

BuddhiBox Yoga LifeStyle Box delivers mindful living products that enhance your yoga practice on and off the mat. Following the principles of yoga, they are committed to offering product that is ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and created with intention.

Each BuddhiBox is carefully packed and will include healthy food, supplements, beauty products and yoga accessories to encourage and uplift you. Each month, BuddhiBox also chooses a charity to donate a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each box. The July box supports The One Love Movement which seeks to create a better future for at-risk & homeless youth populations both locally and globally. You can find out more about The One Love Movement here.

There are two Box choices, Yoga and Jewelry. Prices start at $11.95 for two to three product samples. The box in this review is the BuddhiBox Yoga. When you sign up you'll be asked several questions to help personalize your box, including whether you want only vegan items. That's a very beneficial option for those with ethical concerns.

The Cost: $30.95/month.

What You Get: Each month, delivered straight to your mailbox, you will receive a mix of 4-6 samples and full size products all dedicated to pure and mindful living.

October Fields Nag Champa Artisan Soy Candle Tin- This 4oz tin smells exactly like Nag Champa. Since its my MIL favorite scent in the whole world, I'm giving this to her as part of her birthday gift. She's going to love it. This is a vegan, soy candle with a cotton wick and it has a burn time of about 25 hours.
Value: $7

Bear's Beauty 22% Zinc Sun Lover's Cream- I'm pretty sure this is the unscented version. It's made with shea butter, a whole bunch of oils and non-nano zinc. This is going to protect you big time. The maximum legal percentage for Zinc Oxide is 25% and this is 22%! I think I would test this on a small patch of my face before I went all out with it. Mainly because I read a fascinating study about zinc oxide and sunscreen. It mentioned that high percentages of zinc oxide can clog pores. Although, clogged pores is better then getting burnt so...
As for nano and non-nano zinc, they're both fine for your skin unless it's a nano-particle zinc in a SPRAY form. Which is illegal anyway so you won't find it. It's not because it's bad for your skin or gets absorbed into your bloodstream either. It's because it's bad for your lungs to inhale it.
Value: $10

October Fields Organic Vegan Lip Balm- Yep, the same people that make candles, make lip balm, too! This is made of many different oils and candelilla wax. It's vegan and organic. And it's miiiine. I'm such a sucker for lip balms. I'm not a vegan and I prefer to have beeswax over candelilla wax but I'm not picky, I'll use it alll!

Value: $3.50

Erin's Faces Firming Eye Gel- This is interesting. This is definitely going to reduce inflammation and eye puffiness. It's also going to hydrate which will help get rid of little wrinkles. It does have Witch Hazel in it which usually has a 14% solution of alcohol in it so I don't think I'm going to be using it but it has another curious ingredient.

DMAE is not normally associated with skincare. It's an amino acid produced by the brain that's supposed help in certain brain functions like memory. But as a skin conditioning ingredient? I hadn't heard that so I did a bunch of research. It seems that it is a hydrator but there seems to be some question of cell death in relation to it. Not enough studies have actually been done to find out, though, and it's been nothing recent. Some say it thickens the dermis, some say the cell death might be like an exfoliator. Not enough info! Someone else (without a cosmetic industry bias) needs to get on it.

The Triethanolamine is a pH adjustor (and surfectant) and has a pH of about 10. Since I'm trying to keep things off my skin that have a pH of more than 6, I'm leaning more toward not using this even with it's interesting composition. I actually have no idea if something that low on the ingredient list can even affect pH. I just know that watching pH and not using products with alcohol has worked wonders for the redness in my skin.

Gypsy Soul Organics Freak of Nature Essential Oil Potion- Fir Needle, Bergamot, Clove, Cassia Root, Eucalyptus, Cedarwood, Lavadin, Peppermint. This is an aromatherapy oil. Spritz and be energized. Sadly, this has enough lavender to trigger my allergies so I can't use it but OMG it smells amazing! /cry I'm so bummed.

Value: $9.99

Every Buddhibox has a vegan recipe by Simple Sweet Vegan! This one is for Sweet Potato Brownies. If I wasn't concentrating on weight loss, I'd probably try it.

You'll also receive a Yoga Pose Card with each Buddhibox. These are printed on good cardstock and include how to do the pose and why you should want to do it.

Auromere Ayurvedic Massage Oil- This is a sample pocket of a massage oil with 25 different Ayurvedic Oils, Herbs and Botanical Extracts. I was pretty happy to see that none of them are lavender! Woohoo!

Missing from the bag is HappyMatcha Skinny Matcha Om Blend. It was delayed because of West Coast longshoremen strikes and will be sent in a separate shipment. I can't find any information about this specific "flavor" unless it's the same as this company. I think it is because the label is similar.

Value: $50

VERDICT: I have to say that this might be one of my favorite BuddhiBoxes yet! With the inclusion of the bag of Matcha the value is insane. I know it's sort of beauty heavy which hasn't been the case for the last few BuddhiBoxes and while I like that they aren't stuffed with skincare and makeup, it's fun to get some new organic brands in a box. Even though I can't use the Freak of Nature spray, it smells amazing. The Erin's Faces Eye Gel is a fascinating inclusion and even though I won't use it because of my avoidance of alcohol, it seems excellent. I'm so tempted to break my ban for it but I'm going to stand firm! The variety is stellar and I actually am excited to receive the matcha, too.

While yoga may not be my thing, this box has pretty much all the things I love in it. I also think that it's a reasonable price for the organic and vegan brands that are usually represented. Plus getting full size products is really nice.

If you would like to sign up for BuddhiBox and get a little yoga-focused, organic goodness each month, you can sign up right here. Make sure to use coupon code YOGAEVERYDAMNDAY to get 10% off your subscription.

*This box was sent to me for review purposes. All opinions and off-topic ponderings are my own.